[Professional Recommender sending me the letter to check..?]

When you waive your right to see the letter, you're doing just that -- forfeiting your legally-guaranteed right to view all of your application materials. That doesn't mean that you're not allowed to see it, only that you're OK with not seeing it. There's nothing wrong with your recommender showing you the letter.

Seconded.

It seems likely that this referee is unsure of what IR schools look for, and wants to run it by you to see if the letter is hitting the right marks. For example, a business school might care about your demonstrated leadership, but couldn't care less about your ability to analyze a poem. A PhD lit program, on the other hand...

It doesn't hurt to mention to the letter-writer that he is not obligated to show you the letter, but I somehow doubt that he thinks otherwise. He's probably just trying to write a letter that will be useful to your purposes. Sounds like a nice guy

[Undergrad thesis advisor declined my LOR request...what do I do?]

I'm going to jump in to agree that I wouldn't try to push for a letter of recommendation for someone who is unwilling to write one. I'm curious as to how the prof worded the rejection. If it were truly a matter of lack of time, I think he(/she?) would have mentioned it. (In fact, I get the impression that a lot of professors use the time thing as an excuse when they just don't want to write a letter). If it were a matter of having not seen you in three years, once again, it would have made sense for the prof to mention that as well. Or the prof could have just ignored your request. Something doesn't quite add up.

Go ahead and send another letter, especially if you think your wording might have negatively influenced the response. But this prof does not sound like an ideal letter-writer either way.

I'm only applying right now, so take the following with a grain of salt, but I don't think that not having your thesis adviser write you a letter would kill your application. There are a million reasons that this could have happened - for all the adcom knows, the prof is currently going through cancer treatment or is on sabbatical in the Keeling Islands without Internet access...I think your thesis reader sounds like a decent sub. I'm not sure about mentioning the original prof, however, as that might bring attention to it, as you said. I guess it's hard to judge that one out of context.

[MPP in economic policy - What schools to apply to?]

I'm no expert, but it seems like SAIS would be a great fit for you, as their entire program is basically focused on economic policy (mostly international, at that). I know you say that they require an econ course you cannot take now, but could you take it at any point before you would hypothetically enroll? A number of schools provide that as an option.

I'm not sure how your GPA converts to a 4.0 American scale, but your GRE scores are definitely competitive for WWS and HKS. WWS, however, seems to really value candidate's commitment to the public sector, and I'm not sure your work experience reflects that (whatever your personal passions may be). Perhaps you might be able to pull it off if you crafted a compelling statement of purpose about why you want to change tracks. A few of the current student bios on the WWS website suggest that some successful applicants started off in the private sector, and then had some kind of wake up call leading them to public service...

The sense I get from Harris is that they are very math-based - their stats sequence is longer than any other school that I have seen. They also base their funding offerings largely on GRE, which could be to your advantage.

I am only gleaning this from previous posts on these boards, but SIPA is supposedly notoriously stingy with money, so if finances are a concern, then you might look elsewhere.

Not sure about the other schools you've mentioned. Good luck.

["Rank the student"]

Ugh, I just had a referee talk to me about this. She's actually American, so there wasn't even a cultural barrier. She expressed that the top category seemed extreme, and even the second from the top was pretty intense, (I think the categories were like 'top 1%' and 'top 5%'). She said she put me in top 10% for most things, but that now she was feeling guilty that she might have inadvertently diminished me by putting me in the third category from the top if there's referee inflation going on. She already submitted the rec, so I'm not sure why she told me this (perhaps confessional?), but needless to say, it ratcheted up my anxiety. Anyhow, she let me see the actual letter she wrote for me, and it was very glowing, so I hope I won't be denied just because a supervisor of mine does not think I am within the top 1% of people she had ever met in her life. It remains to be seen.

[How personal to make the SOP?]

I feel for you. I'm applying to public policy programs. A lot of schools explicitly state that personal statements/statements of purpose should explain the candidate's commitment to public service and what has lead him/her to pursue such a career. For most people - or for me, at least - that stems from personal experience. But I also doubt I'm the only person who went backpacking after college or has realized that, OMG, there is economic equality in this country. When I emailed my first decent draft, which focused almost exclusively on the policy issues that interest me, to educated people I trust, almost everyone responded by saying it was a little dry, that I should incorporate more personal experiences, etc., etc. But that's pretty much the polar opposite of the advice that all the brilliant Gradcafe forumites have posted. It's hard to find the balance.

[Canadian spelling?]

Yes, I'll just chime in to say consistency is key. If you go back and try to 'Americanize' everything, you might miss one or two words, and then they will stick out more. I understand that you might want to Americanize if you're, say, publishing in an American journal (which is perhaps what ktel is referring to?). But in terms of personal statements and writing samples, I think you're fine.

[HKS vs. Harvard Kennedy School vs. the Harvard Kennedy School vs. the Kennedy School...]

How are you referring to various programs in your statements of purpose? Other examples

Berkeley/The Goldman School/UC Berkeley/Goldman School of Public Policy

Princeton/Princeton University/The Woodrow Wilson School/WWS

Michigan/The Ford School/The University of Michigan, etc.

What is proper decorum? What about referring to the school by a longer name the first time around, and then shortening it, mostly for word count/flow purposes. I.e. "I am applying for a Master in PP at Harvard Kennedy School because...." and then "I am particularly interested in the Kennedy School's focus on blah blah blah".

It's down to the wire and I'm freaking out.

[taking (at least) a year off - should I ask for LoRs now?]

Go for it! This is something I wish I had done. You have no idea how awkward I felt sending cold emails to professors years later.

I think since you are presumably on campus, talking to them in person would be best. It will feel more relaxed, less stilted. You don't need the email format to be able to articulate your grad school plans, you're just trying to assess their willingness to write something now to use for some hypothetical future. And who knows - your plans might totally change once you're out of school, or especially after doing the peace corps. This could just be me, but I think I changed more from 22 to 25 than I did from 18 to 22. Being out of school radically alters one's perspective in ways you might never imagine.

Good luck! And cheers to you for thinking ahead.

[Kennedy School Chances (MPP)?]

Soapwater - I don't think you shouldn't apply, but that quant score is going to hurt you. If you look at the link below, only 6% of students accepted at WWS had quant scores between 144-151 (and 0% below that). So it's obviously possible, just not probable perhaps. Have you taken the test more than once? I only took it one time, but everyone I know who has taken it more than once see their scores rise. I think there's a steep learning curve, especially with the computer format. One admissions officer I spoke to said that he recommends everyone take the test twice for that very reason. Your GPA is fantastic (what I wouldn't do for it), and your verbal score is great, so if you have good work experience, raising your Q score would likely make you an absolutely top candidate.

Anyhow, I certainly have a number of weaknesses in my application, so I hope I'm not coming off judgmental or harsh.

http://wws.princeton.edu/gradviewbook/index.html#/16

[Selecting Letters of Rec: Internship v. Paid Work]

I think you're being a little cynical and presumptuous about the value of recommendation letters. Not one of my referees is a "friend", and none asked me to write the letter for him. (I do personally know one person that the latter has happened to, but who gets their friends to write their letters? How does that even work?) Only one even went out of his way to ask me about what public policy schools value so that he could write me a "useful" letter.

The idea behind letters of rec is to have some third-party proof that you have done what you say you have, and that you can thrive in an academic/professional environment. It's a bad sign if you've been out of school for a few years and cannot find one person who can attest to your professional abilities.

That said, I think the value of the two referees you have proposed depends on:

A ) how closely you worked with the elected official and what your duties were - i.e. did you show up one day a week to make photocopies, receiving your assignments from a low-level staffer? Or did you work side-by-side with the politician 5 days/week doing research on policy issues? (There's obviously a lot in between, but you get the idea). I would also consider whether or not there is someone on staff who might be able to attest to your abilities better than the elected official (again, depending on what your duties were). Every admissions officer I've spoken with and every piece of advice I've read online says it's better to have someone who personally knows you write the letter than someone with a fancy title.

B ) what is your current job? One month is a very short period of time, and you would have had to make quite an impression for the letter to be great. But if the job is super-relevant to your policy interests, and you have excelled in your duties so far, then it might be a better choice, especially if the referee in Option A never got to know you.

Good luck! I know getting these letters can be difficult and/or awkward (I personally had a lot of trouble debating between two options for that tricky 3rd letter). And now I'm going to go back downstairs to have stilted conversations with my cousins. Happy Thanksgiving!

[help with policy memo]

Perhaps this is a dense question, but what exactly is meant by "memo format"? Is this just referring to the straight-forward approach taken by business memos, in which a problem is identified and solutions are considered or proposed? Or is there something else special we are supposed to be doing?

[Career-change: Transcripts & withdrawal(s)]

Some schools specifically ask for transcripts from every post-secondary institution you attended. In this case, you will absolutely need to submit your transcripts from the grad program. Others say that you only need to submit transcripts from institutions that awarded you a degree. I would be very careful to check the requirements of each school - you don't want this coming out later and then having an offer of admission rescinded.

For the schools that require your grad transcript, you should probably write an addendum explaining why you withdrew. Everything I've read and been told suggests that focusing on such a negative in a statement of purpose will be distracting, but briefly explaining (without making excuses) this little bump in your academic past can be done nicely in an extra statement. Good luck!

[Resume question for applying to MPP programs]

This isn't like applying for a job where you want to keep your resume to one page, assuming some HR hack is barely going to take the time to scan it - these schools want to see something closer to a CV. The Harvard Kennedy School admissions blog suggests 2-4 pages, and at an info session I attended for another school, an admissions officer suggested 2-5 pages.

Definitely put the college leadership positions - 2.5 years ago was not that long, and I'm sure it bodes well that you were involved in campus life as an undergrad. In terms of the coursework, you're right that they will have your transcript, but if you have the space and it's a strength of your application, why not highlight it?

[How to word an email to my missing recommender?]

Option 1, don't mention storm:

Hi Professor X,

I hope this email finds you well.

I just wanted to check in to make sure that you got the draft I sent on November 2nd and remind you that my first application deadline is coming up on December 1st. Please let me know if there's anything else I can do to make this easier for you.

Thank you again for agreeing to write me a letter of recommendation - it really means a lot to me.

Sincerely,

teethwax

Option 2, mention storm:

Hi Professor X,

I hope that this email finds you well. I know that a lot of people in New York have been badly affected by the storm, so I just wanted to check in to make sure you [and your family?] are OK and that you are still able to write me a letter of recommendation. Please let me know as soon as possible, as my first deadline is coming up on December 1st.

Thank you, and please let me know if there's anything else I can do.

Sincerely,

teethwax

[Professor refused to write to top schools]

I'm not sure how common your situation is, but having scanned these forums (fora?) for a couple of months, it seems that plenty of people have gotten negative recommendations from referees who initially seemed enthusiastic about their applications. If this professor is actively trying to dissuade you from applying or telling you that you don't have "the right stuff" for these programs, then I would strongly advise you against using him as a reference. Even if he is 100% wrong about your merit, he will not write you a strong letter of recommendation. At best, if you convince him you're serious about applying, he will write you a qualified letter of recommendation with numerous caveats. This will most likely send red flags to any university to which you are applying.

I agree with previous posters that if you have a good relationship with him personally, you should try to find out why he is so hesitant to support your applications to these various schools. Perhaps it is a matter of fit - he thinks you would be better off elsewhere. If he does have legitimate concerns about your abilities, however, then at that point you have to decide whether or not he is misguided.

Good luck! It sounds like a difficult situation.

[Letter of Intent for Recommender]

Hi All,

One of my referees asked for my letter of intent in order to craft a letter of recommendation. This is obviously a legit request, especially considering it's an undergrad prof whom I haven't spoken to in years, not to mention the fact that I've slightly switched paths since then. That said, my statement of purpose is in an early draft stage! (I assume that by asking for a letter of intent, this is what she would be looking for). I have three different versions going, none of which I am satisfied with, and I certainly wouldn't want to pass along any of them to someone meant to assess my academic merit. But my first deadlines are approaching in a number of weeks, so I don't want wait to have a final draft before I send her something.

A friend suggested that I write a more straightforward explanation of my goals and the programs to which I am applying to get her something more quickly. But he is currently finishing up an MBA, so I wonder if his perspective isn't appropriate for public policy/affairs applications, where most adcoms with whom I've spoken emphasize creating a narrative, demonstrating your commitment to public service, and showing that you understand what such a degree entails and what it can do for you/your career. The statement of purpose that I am developing goes into a lot of detail about my work in the area of policy that I want to pursue, and I am struggling to get it just right, whereas this information might not be so relevant to this particular referee who is supposed to be judging my general academic abilities.

So do you think it's wise to get her something very straightforward more quickly? How much time before my first deadline should she expect to have all relevant materials?

Thanks in advance for any advice.

[How many schools are you applying to?]

I'm applying to 7 or 8. This is what I think you have to consider:

1) How important is it to you to be in grad school next year? I.e., if you aren't satisfied with your admissions results, would you be OK with having to wait another year to apply again?

2) How important is money? Would you be willing to go to a private school unfunded? I, most likely, am not. Therefore I am applying to some dream/reach schools, but also to some schools whose stats I exceed, and therefore where I have a better shot at receiving funding (assuming I am accepted, of course!).

3) How many schools would you actually be willing to go to? If you really would only consider top tier schools, then there's no point in applying to regional safeties to increase the chances of getting admits. Even within the top tier, I imagine there are some people who would only consider HKS/WWS/GPPI, and wouldn't really be happy at Harris/GWU/SIPA. But if you could see yourself at the latter schools, especially when taking funding opportunities into consideration, then of course it's worth applying. This is one reason that I eliminated schools like Maxwell and Sanford - however great the programs might be, I knew that I could never get myself to move to Syracuse or Durham. Why waste the application fee?

[Impersonal Letter of Rec from VIP Alum?]

Before I decided to apply to public policy grad school, I networked a bit to try and gather more information about different programs. I ended up having lunch with a VIP alum of one of my target schools who very generously offered to write me a letter of recommendation at the end of our chat. She started off in the master's program (which is what I am applying for) and went on to a PhD. She has had an illustrious career ever since - weaving in and out of the private and public sectors, publishing two relatively successful books, etc. - and now has a tenure track position at a top university. She also claims to have a personal relationship with the current dean.

I was very flattered that she offered to write me this rec letter, and I do feel like we had a lot in common and bonded in a more natural way than most 'informational interviews' allow for. That said, my relationship with this woman consists of an exchange of emails and one 90-minute lunch! I have no idea why she offered to write me this letter of rec, and two months removed from our initial meeting, I'm wondering if it's even worth it, especially if I would have to sacrifice one of my letters from someone who truly knows me. While this particular program doesn't say 'three letters and no more' on the website, a few other programs do specifically say they strongly discourage more than three. I suppose if I can add her on as a fourth, there's no harm (obviously I need to send an email to admissions), but assuming they discourage it, is it worth it to have this VIP replace an unknown referee with whom I have a stronger relationship? Thoughts?

[GRE scores for top programs]

A 162 Quant is not low for public policy/ID. I think the average for admitted students at WWS is 159 or so. Remember, you're competing against people who are applying for PhDs in physics.

[How to get funding at Harris?]

Thank you for your insights. Unfortunately, I'm a "splitter" so to speak - my GPA is just under most of my target schools' stated medians, and my GRE is way above. My work experience and language skills are pretty good, but not spectacularly impressive, so it's hard to know where I stand. I guess I'll find out next March!

@Clay Made - what are you referring to when you say that "there's completely false information on their website"?

[Online MPA - Northwestern University]

An online graduate degree would only make sense if you're certain that you need a specific credential and nothing more to advance your career. You will get none of the advantages of networking that regular grad degrees provide, which is a huge reason to go to a professional program, for better or worse. If you are further along in your career and just looking for the line on your resume, then maybe an online degree would make sense, but I don't think it would be worth it if you are in your 20s and just starting out. Obviously the Northwestern brand has a little more cache than Phoenix or Devry...I guess it just depends on your situation.

[Analytical Writing Score?]

I think it's important to remember that the GRE is a different game than the SAT/ACT, in that the test takers are a self-selected pool of college graduates who are hoping to pursue advanced degrees. There are very few (if any) C-students from low-performing high schools to help boost your percentile rank. Moreover, on the quant section, you're competing against people who are applying for engineering degrees and PhDs in mathematics. (This very fact could be used to argue the uselessness of the GRE, but I digress). The point is, a 159 is not a low score for your field. (Full disclosure - I got a 161 after hoping to crack the 90th percentile, so I've spent some time trying to make myself feel better!).

As an aside, I agree with your rant, CharKel27 - on test day I felt that there was a lot of material that I had not encountered in my two months of studying with three different prep books. Some of the questions used material I had learned but in much more complex applications, and I found myself very pressed for time. Perhaps the test prep books are meant to cover the material that will help you crack the 150s, but not necessarily the top decile. But I can only complain so much. I did much better on the sections for verbal and writing - which have historically been my strengths - so in that sense the GRE probably did accurately assess my abilities. While I've been trying to beef up my 'quant' readiness in anticipation of a public policy career, I am every so often reminded that there was a reason that I got a liberal arts degree and did not go to engineering school!

[How to get funding at Harris?]

I know this doesn't address the "other things" part of your question, but I asked the Harris admissions office about their criteria for scholarships, and basically the only concrete answer I got was scoring in at least the 75th percentile on the GRE. They also said the statement of purpose was important...

I don't want to derail your thread here, but if there are any current students out there who got big scholarships to top schools, would you mind sharing any insights into how you got them? 4.0 GPAs? Perfect GREs? Native fluency in Russian, Arabic and Mandarin? Personal connections?

[How to improve my AW score from 4.5 to 5.5 in one month?]

I got a 6, and only practiced the writing section one time on a GRE Powerprep II practice test. The night before the exam, I read through the Kaplan book and basically followed what they said. From what I can tell, it seems like the ETS graders are looking for some very basic things.

1) Length. Brevity may be the soul of wit, but ETS isn't looking for witty.

2) Concrete, specific examples. While I have seen other posters complaining that ETS rewards people who make up facts, I don't think you have to quote statistics in order to get a good score. I certainly didn't. I cited two fairly well-known historical examples in my opinion essay, without having to make anything up. Is that what got me the 6? I can't say for sure, but obviously it didn't hurt.

3) Rhetorical questions. Apparently the graders reward these, as they see them as a sign of rhetorical sophistication. I used one or two.

4) A few $20 vocab words. Certainly don't use words that you don't totally understand or that don't fit the context, but maybe go into the exam with four or five relatively flexible vocab words in mind that you can try to weave in. I specifically remember using the word fiduciary.

Again, I can't say that these pointers are what caused me to do so well. I have always been good at standardized tests, and writing is a strong suit of mine. But my understanding is that ETS rewards a very specific kind of essay, so I followed the recommendations of Kaplan to a T and it worked out very well for me. It's easy to be cynical, but the fact is these graders only have a few minutes to read through your essay. You want to give them clear signs that you are a good writer by their definition, whether or not you agree with its validity.

Hope this helps, and good luck!

[When to ask your current employer for a rec. letter...]

I'm in a situation that I imagine a lot of you have been in. I'm working in a relevant field, and I want to ask one of my supervisors for a recommendation. I wanted to hear some of your experiences with asking current employers for rec letters, as it basically announces "I desperately hope to be quitting in 9 months! (but if grad school won't have me, can I stay here, pretty please?!)"

How have you gone about it? What kinds of reactions have you had? Have you gained any wisdom that you'd like to share?

I don't think that my bosses will be shocked to know I want to move on eventually - while my job is great on a day-to-day basis, it's essentially dead-end without an advanced degree. What also makes me nervous is that the person I'd be asking for a letter is not the person who hired me. I got the job (or at least the job interview) by networking with a close friend of the 'big boss', who is no way oversees my day-to-day work and with whom I have minimal interaction. I'm not sure what the protocol would be for letting the 'big boss' know myself because of the personal connection, or letting him hear from my supervisor/recommendation-writer...I don't want to inadvertently commit a faux pas.

Also, my office does not have the most professional environment, and I have seen how employees who have moved on have been retaliated against. People giving their two weeks' notice have been told to leave at the end of the day. (Although this generally happens when they leave for 'rival' organizations). Anyhow, I know you probably don't care about all these details, but I guess I'm just giving a little context to my anxiety.

I'm applying for public policy programs, by the way.